Toto (GitHub repo) is a new lightweight Ruby and Rack-based blogging engine designed specifically for "hackers" by Alexis Sellier. Content is managed entirely through Git - so everything is version controlled - and articles are stored as text files with embedded YAML metadata. At only 300 lines, it's easy to hack to your own taste, too.
Alexis has decided to push Toto by demonstrating how easy it is to deploy - for free - on the Heroku platform. You can literally get a blog up on Heroku within 5 minutes, even if you haven't already got a Heroku account (I just tried it).
How To Do ItHere are the basic steps:
- Sign up for an account at Heroku.com - all you have to do is provide an e-mail address, validate it, then enter a password.
gem install herokugit clone git://github.com/cloudhead/dorothy.git your-blog-dir- cd your-blog-dir
heroku create- Use the URL returned by
heroku createand add a line in to theToto::Server.newblock inconfig.rulike:set :url, 'http://your.heroku.url.here' - git commit -am "Added URL"
- git push heroku master
- You're live!
It's that simple - I just tried it (see [furious-fire-87.heroku.com] for a live demo)! Beyond this stage, you need to check out Toto's documentation and actually add some posts to your Toto install, customize the template, and what not.
If you're interested in lightweight systems like Toto, check out Scanty and Jekyll (which includes a blog-like system but at heart is designed to cope with full sites).